New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks

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New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks

Olympus has taken the lovely, popular and slightly flawed Pen EP-1 camera, tweaked it to to be more like Panasonic's equally nice GF1, and in the process created a Frankenstein's camera, a bloated monster that bears the same relationship to the EP-1 as Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz bore to his Stanley Kowalski.

So, what's new? The Pen E-PL1 is still an interchangeable lens, Micro Four Thirds (M4/3) camera, but it gains a pop-up flash and a direct video-record button (this button, found on the Panasonic GF1, is wonderfully useful for quick clip shooting). As mentioned, the body loses its sleek, muscular good looks and also the two innovative thumb dials, replaced by one top-plate dial and a whole lot of buttons. If you are looking for an easy to control manual camera, this isn't it – stick with the EP2 or the GF1.

The new Pen has some nice features not found in the Panasonic. First, in-body image stabilization, which works whatever lens you put on the front. Second, you can hook up a microphone to supplement to built-in mono mic (both the EPx cameras have stereo mics, the Panny mono with no aux input).

There is also a range of Live Guides, which let you tweak color and other parameters and see the results live on-screen before you shoot. And one of the coolest features is that you can pair the camera with Olympus flashes and control them remotely. That's a pretty high-end DSLR feature right there.

All this comes in a $600 package, bundled with a Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5/5.6, available in March. If you're looking to step up from a high-end compact, but don't need the price or the great manual handling of the EP-2 or GF1, this is a rather sweet-featured camera. If you squint, and don't look too hard at its ugly lines.